The non-existent benefits of having a crush
by whywontuletmeleavefanficdotnet
Summary: Eren has to deal with a troublesome amount of erotic feelings for one of his friends. Ah, but having a crush like that really brings him in the most awkward situations he has faced yet.
1. Chapter 1

"Ah... Reiner~..."

Eren sighed that name ever so softly, trying his best not to moan too loud. He did not want anyone to walk in on him right now, with his hands in under his pants, arching his back into the mattress, stroking himself gently, and at last, but definitely not the least, he was constantly mumbling the name of one of his friends, a tall, muscular blonde with the name Reiner, to be completely exact. That would probably not be very fun, to have someone discovering him right there. It would be pretty awkward, and he would without a doubt be bullied with it until forever.

Why was he even doing this? Why would he do it, even as he knew there would be a chance that someone would open that door and see him like that? He already knew himself, that the dorms were the absolute worst place to jack off in. It didn't matter that the others were attending to lessons, there would always be a chance that for example that butt head to Connie would think it was a great idea to skip class and go take a nap in the dorms, and then, BAM! There's an Eren, caught with the hands in his pants. It wouldn't just have to be Connie, anyone could burst into the boy's dorms anytime possible.

Even with this in mind, Eren didn't stop anytime soon. He kept gliding his sensitive skin up and down, and with a fluttering feeling blooming in his stomach, he strangled a moan, as he kept imagining those hawk-like eyes. As that butterflyish feeling turned into a swirly knot of pleasure, he squirmed and turned to lie on his stomach, gently lifting his hips to hang above his mattress, to leave enough space for his hand to still move along his shaft. He bit down in his pillow, and he bit so hard that he could have torn the fabric, as the knot in his stomach exploded into waves of bliss, making his fingertips and toes feel electric, and all his muscles tensed, all at once. As he lied there, in that position, hindering himself from moaning in extreme pleasure, he let his cum spill over the towel he had placed conveniently at his hips. He did not want any messes that would give hints away that he was masturbating in the dorms instead of sitting in class. The rumors would spread like fire, and they would reach to the higher-ups. The very thought of any of his seniors knowing such a thing was scary and unsettling. Masturbating as natural and legal, and it was probably pretty popular, too. But being caught doing it really wasn't something you would want when in the Survey Corps. Anyone knowing that Eren was attending his bodily lusts instead of class would reward him in prizes like nicknames and constant sex-jokes.

He finally let his lungs get some oxygen, and in what would have been ten minutes, he was lying on his side, trying to catch his breath.

Even then, after taking care of himself, he couldn't get that strongly build face out of his mind.

"Reiner... why are you doing this to me..." Eren whispered, covering his eyes with his palms. It didn't feel fair at any rate, that Eren felt like this, even as cadet Reiner Braun never had done anything to appear like that to Eren. He was a friend, a good friend, like everyone else. To Eren, it was more likely that he would have feelings for Armin or Mikasa, since they were the two closest to him, even though that would be slightly awkward, and partly disturbing, because he saw Mikasa as a sister, but it would still have been much more likely that it would have been her, rather than Reiner. Maybe Christa, Sasha or Ymir could have made his heart skip, anyone of the opposite gender. Maybe even Petra or Hange. But no, it just had to be a guy. In that case, it could have been someone else, it could first of all have been Captain Levi, though it would probably be pretty scary to be in such a relationship. It could have been Connie, Bertholdt and it could even had been with someone as... ugh... _Kirschtein_. Anyone.

But no.

No, no, no. That's not how his mind or body rolled. His crotch would always give a tug when he glanced at cadet Reiner Braun, and only on cadet Reiner Braun. It wasn't fair. It was absolutely and completely unfair, that his body gave in for someone he would rather see as a friend, but couldn't, because his hormones or screwed mind, or whatever that was the cause to his feelings, where forcing him to see Reiner in a different way.

It was so embarrassing, when he felt his pants get too tight, but so far he had always managed to hide his aching throbs, or sometimes even calm them down. When it was really bad, he always foresaw it, and he would always get to the toilets before anyone could see or suspect him for anything inappropriate.

It was true, he got along well with Reiner. But he couldn't possibly be anything more than a good friend to him. Everyone knew that he always hung out with Bertholdt, and those two were pretty much inseparable.

Something ached inside of him, every time his thought strained the idea, that Reiner never would look at Eren and feel the same as the boy saw him. Hell, would he ever know how Eren felt? If there was some kind of merciful god somewhere, Eren was sure as hell praying to this higher power that Reiner never would get even a hint of Eren's mainly erotic feelings for the blonde. It was almost scary how awkward and embarrassing it could be if that ever happened.

… on the other hand, Eren wouldn't be able to hold it in forever. His urge to blurt out everything on his mind had risen the last couple of weeks, and everything he would want to whisper came out as a shout. Just because of that, he had already been cleaning the stable (alone) at least twenty times, because he had spoken with a way too loud voice to his superiors. It probably was only a question of time before...

He didn't even wanted to think that thought to an end. Right now, he would have to get up and wash the towel, before anyone could come and take him red-handed.

* * *

"Where were you, Eren?"

Mikasa looked questioning at him. She sensed some secrecy in her brother almost immediately when he had sat down beside her.

Armin looked up from his meal at the opposite side of the table, looking with curiosity at his friend. Eren somehow managed to hold down the blood that would have risen up to his cheeks if he had been off guard. But of course, knowing his friends well enough, he had foreseen that question already on his way to the dining hall.

"I took a nap in the dorms... don't tell anyone, please." He said softly, before he bit down in the dry bread they always served at lunch. Armin raised a brow, but he didn't question it. He felt that Eren was hiding something, all right, but then it probably was something embarrassing.

Mikasa weren't easy to get off, though. Just like Armin, she knew that Eren was lying. She put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"You never slack off when we are having strategy lessons. What were you really doing, Eren...?" She mumbled, being cautious that no one other than the three of them would hear it.

"I already said that I was napping, Mikasa. It's not really a big deal, I was tired and exhausted, did you forget that I have been cleaning the stables at least a hundred times a day by now?" Eren answered, clearly annoyed. At first, it didn't seem like Mikasa would give up, but she removed her hand and sighed.

"Okay. But if something is wrong, please tell me or Armin." She said, and went back to eat her food.

"Yeah, yeah, you know I will, don't worry." Eren murmured.

They were only allowed to sit in peace for about a minute, before a whole bunch of people sat at their table.

To be precise, those people where their friends, all of them were loudly laughing and joking about something funny that apparently happened in the last lesson.

"Hey, Jäger, where were ya at the lesson today, you missed the greatest moment in humanity's history!" Ymir immediately slammed her butt right beside Armin, almost pushing the blonde over in the process.

"... What?" Eren said, completely clueless about what the freckled brunette was talking about.

"D-don't tell him, Ymir! Shut up...!"

Connie immediately came running towards the table, almost throwing his food on table, before he went over to her and tried to cover her mouth, but as short as he was, the taller girl could just hold him back by keeping her arm stretched.

"Springer, huh? You really live up to your last name, dontcha, Connie?!" She taunted. Connie's face was slowly getting red of embarrassment.

"N-no, don't tell him, Ymir, he was the only one who wasn't present, come on, please don't tell him!" He pleaded. Ymir just snorted.

"If she doesn't do it, someone else is gonna." Jean placed himself on the other side of Armin's place, with a smug smile planted on his face. With a gasp, Connie almost flew over to Jean and successfully silenced him by grabbing a nearby bread and stuffing it into the other boy's mouth, who only could produce some startled and muffled protests. Ymir cracked up with laughter, which opened a perfect opportunity for Sasha to snatch her bread.

"You guys... be nice to Connie, it was an accident." Krista sat at the edge of the table, right beside Ymir, who quickly noticed the missing link in her meal.

"But you gotta admit, Krista, it was hilarious, you even giggled, I saw it." Sasha said, with her mouth full of Ymir's bread. Krista slightly flinched, but managed to do no more than that, as she began eating her lunch.

"I... I do agree with Krista a little... It was an accident..." Surprisingly, Bertholdt quietly said his opinion, as he carefully sat down beside Eren.

"Yeah, listen to Bert and Krista, it was an accident, it wasn't meant to happen, now stop stepping in it, guys...!" Connie quickly said, desperate to keep the mouths that were willing to humiliate him shut.

"Ho ho, but that's just two people, Springer, the rest of us is outnumbering you~!" Ymir hummed.

"Agh, can't you just not say it?!"

"Dude, quit whining, it wasn't even that bad." Jean, who now had managed to swallow the piece of bread that had hindered him in breathing, smirked almost evilly at the shorter boy.

"Stop saying that, you all know it was horrible!"

"What even happened?" Eren couldn't hold his curiosity back anymore. Despite Connie's desperate begs, Ymir just cackled and began talking.

"Yeah, so the commander, right? He was doing the lesson today, and he then noticed how Connie was about to fall asleep, and then he called the dwarf to the board- Mm mph!" Fascinating enough, Connie had now stolen Sasha's uneaten extra bread and shoved it inside Ymir's mouth, who was caught by surprise. But even so, Sasha retaliated by continuing where Ymir came from.

"Well, Connie obviously were a bit groggy, because he had been so close on banging his head on the table, so he didn't notice where he stepped, and because we were in the class room that has like stairs and the tables are arranged on top of them, he of course trips, and because he chose to sit on the very back line, he falls all the way down the stairs and, like, wow, and if it wasn't enough, he even rolls towards the commander, and what happens next-" Connie was quick again, this time tackling the talking person, and Sasha uttered a startled squeal in return. Though, it would be in vain, because Jean couldn't hold it back, as he laughed while telling the rest.

"Yeah, so like Sasha was about to say, Connie rolls towards the commander, and like, he actually knocks him down. It's amazing how much force there can be in a shortie like him, but that's not the funniest part!"

"N-n-no! Don't say it, stop!"

In a desperate try to get up, Connie tripped over Sasha's legs and fell face first onto the floor again, while Jean could barely talk because he begins to laugh violently, though he managed to spit out broken sentences that gave sense.

"The best part is the way he landed! Oh my god, he lands with his fucking face in the middle of the commander's crotch, and like, Connie, he just goes 'What the fuck', while the commander just stands up and kind of laughs, and then just wow, he doesn't even send him outside the class room, he just orders him to sit down again, and at that point, everyone is fucking dying, because Connie looks like he actually smashed his face right onto someone's dick, and the commander is fucking just normal, like, he continues the lesson like everything is normal, but everyone is fucking laughing and can't pay attention, oh my god, Jäger, why weren't you there?! Oh my god...!"

As Jean laughs himself to tears, Ymir choked on the bread in her mouth, producing sounds that suspiciously sounded like laughter, and Connie curled up in a ball, as his ears began to get deep red. Even Armin and Mikasa at least smiled. Eren just sighed, but not without snorting. That would have been hilarious to watch. If he just had been present...

He almost got red in the face himself, as he suddenly remembered why he actually weren't there. He cleared his throat, before he continued eating, with Ymir roaring with laughter as soon as she has her mouth free of bread, Jean already leaning on the table, literally crying tears as his stomach seems to ache, and Sasha poking Connie with a fork while giggling cheerfully.

"Bertholdt, where's Reiner?"

The tall brunette looked at Armin in an almost startled manner, clearly not prepared for anyone noticing him.

"Oh, eh... I th-think he was going to f-fix something. I'm n-not sure what it was, b-but he said it was important..." He stuttered.

"Hm... all right. I was just wondering." Armin said.

Eren immediately felt his pants tighten a little the second he heard "Reiner". Embarrassed, he almost choked when swallowing soup, and it resulted in a coughing fit. Mikasa immediately slapped his back, almost banging his head into the table.

"Ow, not so hard, Mikasa...!"

"Sorry."

With that, he could thank his sister in killing his sudden boner.

What he didn't see coming, was when exactly that person, who had just been mentioned, suddenly sat down beside him.

"Oh, you're here, Reiner?" Bertholdt said, looking over both Eren and Mikasa.

"What were YOU doing?" It had only been about five seconds, before Ymir leaned over the table and pointed at the blonde, almost like she was blaming him for something trivial.

"... Hello to you as well, Ymir. I was getting my gear from the training field, I forgot it there." Reiner answered. Jean wiped tears from his eyes, as he sat up, facing Reiner.

"How the fuck did you forget it there, with all your talk about being a soldier?" He said.

"I dunno, but of some reason all my blades in it are gone..."

"Oh, shit, now you're gonna get your ass whooped by King Midget." Ymir broke in.

"That would look weird, though..." Armin said, not really accepting the mental image in his mind. Ymir, Jean, Sasha and Connie immediately began snickering.

"Let's... not talk about that...?" Krista whispered, a little scared at that point. Unfortunately for her, Sasha got up from the floor to join the conversation.

"Maybe he'll use a whip... Do you think he's the type who would use a whip?" She said. Ymir began cackling and slammed her palm onto the table.

"Nah, maybe he likes the feeling of naked skin, you know..." Jean whispered between hiccups of giggles, trying to suppress the rising urge to join Ymir in her laughing fit.

"You guys..." Armin mumbled, already regretting that he had commented on it at the first place.

"Maybe he'd like a spanking himself... And more..." Mikasa mumbled with a twitching smile, causing almost the whole table to shake with laughter, drawing looks from other tables in their direction.

"Mikasa...!" Armin hissed, trying to be mature, but still giggled along. Even Bertholdt had to hide his face, as he tried not to even snort. Reiner just sighed with a grin and shrugged.

"If he wants more, Reiner, remember that you'll have to be gentle, he's way smaller than you, he might break under too much pressure...!" Ymir almost screamed with laughter, but somehow was able to hiss out another sexual innuendo, getting several people nearby to blush or laugh or both.

"Okay, stop that, right now, would you...!?" Krista whined, dropping her spoon into her bowl. Her reaction only fueled the laughing, and now, both Sasha and Connie were already rolling on the floor again.

… His friends were having fun, but Eren weren't able to even snort. The before small and unnoticeable boner it was before had grown larger in a matter of moments, as he unwillingly listened to his friends alternatively making up a naughty fantasy, which greatly matched his own ones...

The only change they would have to make was switching him out with Levi.

He suddenly realized that the bulge in his pants would be visible in a few seconds if he didn't do something. In slight panic, he quickly crossed his thighs, but in the process, due to being too hasty, he hit his knee into the table, bumping it upwards and also receiving a fair amount of pain jolting through his leg, also lifting the whole table a couple of inches, before it fell down again, and this resulted in several spilled soups.

"Hey, Jäger, what the fuck are you doing?!" Jean hissed, when a great amount of the contents in his bowl splattered onto the table, and some of it got on his shirt. Sasha and Connie, who both were still sitting on the floor, snorted in amusement, before breaking into laughter again.

"There was nothing funny in that, Cockie!" Jean said, pointing at Connie. Connie coughed at the nickname, and once again whined that the incident not more than half an hour ago had been an accident.

"What was that for, Eren..." Armin mumbled, fishing up his now soaked bread from his soup. Before Eren could even collect sanity enough to answer, his eye caught a glimpse of Reiner looking at him with a surprised face.

"I-I just had a chill down my spine, sorry...!" He quickly blurted out, before he without any other thought stood up, pressed himself past Mikasa and left the dining hall in a running speed, even leaving behind his lunch.

"W-wait..." Mikasa murmured, as she got up just seconds later, following Eren, almost toppling over a random cadet on her way.

"Mikasa- Oh great..." Armin could only stand up and reach out, but Mikasa was already long gone.

* * *

Eren could already hear his sister's foot steps only a few meters behind his back, and he turned a corner so sharply, that he almost went into in order to shake her off.

What Eren would had wished, was that he actually would have went right into it, as he lost his balance after bouncing right into a lower person the second he went around the corner, also making several papers and documents his "victim" had been holding fly around in the air.

With stinging, cold and almost hateful eyes, Levi's face looked like it could kill forty titans at once.

"Where do you think you are going, you little brat...?" He said, in a voice so silky and smooth that it was scary. Eren immediately rolled right off the Captain, standing up in haste and made a sloppy salute.

"C-captain Levi!" He stuttered.

Mikasa arrived, just in time to see that midget to a captain finger kicking Eren in the face.

"What the hell was that about, Eren? Why the ass fuck did you do that?" Levi hissed. Eren began to stutter a couple of words, not really giving any sense. He was grabbed tighter by fear for every broken word he tried to pronounce, as he tried to not look his superior in the eyes out of embarrassment. Of all people he could have bumped into, why, why, why did it had to be Levi? The man's eyes looked like they where going to stab a hole right through him, and it didn't help the slightest in his already impossible quest of just apologizing. Mikasa stepped forward, about to try come up with an excuse for her brother in a desperate try to save him (again), when...

"... Eren, just stop talking."

Eren almost yelped in surprise, when Levi suddenly ordered him to be quiet, but not because he had said it especially hard or strict, like he was about to lecture him.

Levi had said it like he had asked him to pass the salt. Like he as talking about the weather.

What worried Eren even more as that Levi wasn't staring venomously at him anymore. Actually, he wasn't even looking at Eren. The only thing he did, was pointing at him. He was pointing at him.

He was pointing at his crotch.

Eren's face went from emotionless to almost terrified, as an increasing wave of heat rolled over his face. He didn't even dare to open his mouth to say something.

Mikasa only gave a glimpse down, before she went backwards behind the corner again. She knew that this wasn't anything she could save, and it would be much less embarrassing for Eren if she was NOT there for once.

A silence so awkward, that even Levi looked embarrassed, slowly spread through the hallway. Eren could hear people talking in the distance, people who were sitting in the dining hall.

He wished so badly that he could have teleported over there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, HI.**

**I am so sorry about the no updates at all thingy, and that I keep making new stuff and forget about the old stuff I actually was supposed to write and ugh**

**I'm just so obsessed with SnK and I'm having a hard time looking at anything else right now, but I swear, I'll finish it all some day**

**SOME DAY**

**NOT SOON but I promise**

**Anyway, here you go. Better than nothing.**

* * *

This was utter bull shit.

There he was, shoveling _shit _out of the horse boxes, for the hundredth time in a week, he was cleaning the stables, alone, in the late evening, tired, embarrassed and kind of cold from the lowering temperatures that emerged at the first hours after the sun had set. The trees outside was merely shadows, reaching up to the darkened sky, their leaves whispering to each other as the chilly wind flew by. The windows on the hard stone walls were weakly lightened up by the candles in the dorms, containing the other cadets chatting to each other before the seniors would come in about half an hour to order them all to go the fuck to sleep.

And here _he _was, once again, scraping old horse crap out from the bottom of the boxes. Because he had run into Levi, and as if couldn't have been enough to make the Captain mad, he also embarrassed himself by having a huge bulge in his pants without noticing.

Well, the only fucking thing that missed was a hoard of titans. Then it probably couldn't get any worse. Titan was the only things that could make anything at their worst.

Eren suddenly tightened his grip around his shovel, and slammed it onto the ground, startling a couple of horses.

"This is fucking worth vomiting over! Why the fuck do I have to endure this shit, why does ANYONE have to, who decided this, why did they decide that, I'd fucking shove a sword IN THEIR ASS!" he yelled, out of the frustration, that had been boiling in his chest for some time by then. It wasn't his fault for messing up so badly. He didn't do it deliberately, it was always an accident, but somehow, he always got smeared with shit in his face because he was the center of the accident, the cause of the accident, or just NEAR an accident. He kicked an empty bucked, which flied right outside the stable, loudly clattering a few meters into the yard.

"Of all the things that could have happened..."

… if he wasn't so stupidly attracted to Reiner, God knows what Eren could have been doing right then. He could have been sitting in his bed, bothering Jean or something, instead of having to clean the stables that evening and next morning.

He groaned, annoyed by his ridiculous fate, and gently kicked another bucket over.

"Aren't you a bit edgy today, huh?"

Eren gasped sharply and spun around in horror, already recognizing the voice before saw the person right behind him.

"I mean, a bit more edgy than normal, you're always edgy!" Reiner grinned at Eren. He was standing in the stable door opening, with the bucket Eren had kicked earlier in his hand, before he stepped forward and put the said item on the stable floor.

"W-what... why are you here...?" Eren stammered out. The blonde shrugged lightly at the question.

"You've been scooping faeces pretty much everyday in this month by now. Figured I'd help a bit out." Reiner said, and picked up Eren's shovel from the floor. Eren was a bit tongue tied for a second, before he grabbed the shovel from Reiner's hands.

"Y-you don't have to do that! You don't have to stay, uh...!"

He had blurted it out so fast and sudden, that Reiner looked a bit surprised. Eren panicked, and quickly attempted to save the situation from another fatal awkwardness.

"Uh, I mean, I don't need any help, I'm fine. I can handle it myself." He said. There was only two seconds of silence, before Reiner laughed a bit.

"Well, I don't know how you act when you don't need help, but I'm just guessing you wreck a palace or something." He said. Eren immediately imagined himself tearing down the place as his titan form, almost scared half to death by what the Captain possibly would have done.

Reiner apparently realized what he had just said, and slapped Eren's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, man, the more, the better, it'll go faster, and before you know it, you'll be snuggling in your bed. What 's to loose here?"

'… the sad pieces of my remaining pride?'

Eren wanted to say that out loud, but he knew that Reiner would question it, and right now, he didn't wanted to answer curiousness, he wanted to get away from the blonde before it was too late. Those shards of pride could be shattered even more.

Maybe more than his pride would shatter, now that it was Reiner he was able to fuck up in front of.

Eren sighed and turned his back to Reiner, mumbling that it was okay for him to help.

* * *

"Ah, fuck." Eren began to brush off the horse crap that had fallen upon his jacket. But as his fingers touched it, he almost swore again, as it stuck to his hand like goo.

"What now?"

Reiner stuck his head out from one of the boxes, a second later.

"Nah, uh, I-I just got some on my clothes, wait a sec..." Eren said, and went over to a haystack, grabbed a handful and began to dry the dirt off his palm. Unfortunately, it didn't help a lot. He got some off, but on the same time he spread a wider and thinner layer over the surface, and he groaned in irritation.

"Why don't you just wash it with water?" Reiner said, shoveling a last scoop of smelly droppings into the now overfilled wheelbarrow.

"Wait, I've got this." Eren said, insistently. He started to rub the hay harder against his palm, but now some of the strays started to go off and glued onto his hand. He swore, and took a new handful hay, but the result got worse.

'Why can't anything go right these days...?!' He thought, and he was so close to hiss it out.

Eren nearly jumped, when two arms from behind grabbed his hands with a wet cloth and began to clean them.

"H-hey, wh-what are you doing?!" Eren stuttered.

"Well, you wouldn't listen, and so I decided to take action. Now I understand why Mikasa is after your ass all the time, you can barely make a rational choice." Reiner said. Eren could hear the smile in his voice, and felt his ears get warm. Was it really because of that...?

His thoughts quickly moved onto another subject, when he realized that Reiner was unbelievably close to him, almost hugging him, from behind, and...

He could actually feel the blonde's warm breath tickling his neck hairs...

And the way Reiner's hands touched his frequently as he wiped off the filth on his hands...

'Oh, no.'

That was everything Eren thought, before looking down, startled. To his absolute horror, it had already begun.

His pants tightened up and too soon it left no place for his throbs to be. His face became warmer, so warm he could have sweated. He shivered a little, and his breath got hitched.

"Eren?"

Eren yelped in surprise, and turned around in haste to face Reiner.

"W-what, I d-didn't, I don't..." He said, not really having the slightest idea what he was about to say. When Reiner arched his brow, the brunet instantly got grabbed by fear.

"Wooow... Eren, you look a bit... red... are you sick?" Reiner mumbled. He stuck out his hand to touch Eren's forehead, but the boy instantly stepped back.

"N-no, don't touch, don't!" He managed to say, with his voice cracked into a higher note and made him sound ridiculous. He smacked a hand over his mouth as to keep it shut, but at the same time, he was still stepping backwards, and he tripped over his own feet. It happened in a split second, but Reiner reached out for him almost immediately.

"Oops, watch out there-!"

For a few seconds, he wondered where he was. He felt like he was wrapped in warmth, yet he couldn't really feel any physical contact with anything else than the haystack beneath him. He wasn't really sure what he was staring at, only that it was moving, and he could hear...

… breath.

Heaving.

He was looking at a chest.

Muscular.

Through a dark green shirt.

With a leather belt strap across.

He moved his view along the chest, and looked down an arm. A strong, big arm, that held up...

"Uh... uhu... umhu..." Eren started to realize where he was and more. He felt as he was on fire, as he carefully started to look up, and his eyes met Reiner's.

"Heh... you need to watch where you're going..." Reiner whispered, feeling awkward. It was... what could he say...? Obscene? Because he was hovering above a smaller guy, on a haystack, alone in a stable, away from any prying eyes...

Reiner perceived, how incandescent Eren's face was, as it seemed to pump out clouds of steam. It looked like the brunet was about to explode, but his facial expression was so peaceful and vacant, like he was lost in a day dream or something.

"Eren...?"

When Eren actually didn't even react, Reiner started to get worried. What was going through that guy's head? He called his name once again, but he still didn't respond.

And Reiner only watched, as Eren slowly reached around his neck, coating it with his palms in a careful manner, like he was handling a very fragile porcelain plates, and the thumbs gently caressed his soft earlobes on each side of the head.

At this point, Eren wasn't even thinking anymore. He was just feeling, smelling, looking, hearing, almost tasting. His hands kind of moved on their own, and he stared deeply into those golden eyes. The body warmth that seeped out and coated him in such a gentle manner, and that force that hid in the muscular body. He observed every corner and every detail on the strongly build face, nothing was out of place, and everything caught his attention. It was impossible for him to look elsewhere, and he was concentrating so hard on just sensing every bit of this person before him, that he barely saw that Reiner was bending his big arms, moving closer to Eren. He only noticed how Reiner was moving, his muscles flexing, and that weak sound of two heartbeats, mingling their rhythm together.

Then gently, Reiner grazed his lips. Eren was in a daze, his eyes closed, his arms around Reiner's neck, grabbing onto his shirt. It was... a weird and dreamy feeling. So gentle, soft and... nice. It felt nice. His tummy felt like it was being tickled from inside, and he felt all fuzzy like a cloud. When a hand stroked his cheek, he opened his eyes a tiny bit, to look.

His eyes met with Reiner's, who was gently caressing Eren's jaw with his fingertips.

It took them a minute or two to slowly draw back.

None of them said anything.

Eren then covered his face with his shirt, shivering with embarrassment.

This time he had messed up pretty bad, hadn't he? Couldn't things for once go his way? He didn't sign up for this at any point of his life, and yet...

"Hey now..."

He felt Reiner's hand lay itself upon his head and mess up his brown hair. It just made him feel more awkward, and he twisted and squirmed to lie sideways under the bigger boy.

"Sorry..." Eren mumbled. Reiner looked at Eren with a lifted eyebrow for a second, and snorted in amusement.

"What are you apologizing for? There's no harm done, right?" He said, grinning widely, though his cheeks sprayed with a hot pink.

"... But that probably weren't meant to happen, were it..." Eren's voice was now so soft that he was almost whispering, and he was so damn adorable, tucking his face away in his sleeve, trying to not get eye-contact with Reiner.

"I guess not." Reiner said, the smile fading a little.

For one more moment, they stayed in that position, Reiner hovering above Eren with his arms holding him up. Then, he rolled to lie on his back beside Eren, looking up at the stable roof.

"... It's okay, though. It was just a kiss. Nothing happened." Reiner said. He said it in hope to calm Eren down. And, well, he didn't mind, either. Kisses were nice and innocent, and this had just been out of...

Out of what?

Reiner stared up at the roof above him, when his mind made up questions.

Why had they even? It seemed like it had just been a spontaneous move from both of them. Which would give sense. Eren was one of the most impulsive people he had ever known, but for Reiner himself to do such a thing out of nowhere...

He rubbed out a hay stray that was irritating his eye, and he wondered strongly what he had just done. Out of concern, he looked over at Eren, but the other was still lying in a shrimp-like position, with his back to Reiner. He could of course see, that the tips of Eren's ears were red, and he was still shivering lightly.

"Eren?"

He called out his name, but like before, he didn't get a response. He waited for an answer for a few seconds more, just to be sure, and called out again. It didn't seem like Eren would react, either because he was too embarrassed to answer, or simply too embarrassed to notice.

Reiner silently sat himself up on his elbow, and leaned a bit over, trying to see Eren's face. It only resulted in a bit more view to the cheek, which was dusted in red blush. From that position that he was in, Reiner could just see Eren's eyelash, softly bending upwards like a bow, matching his hair colour. Carefully, Reiner leaned even more forward, to see Eren's face, but it wasn't possible, no matter how much he leaned.

Eren didn't dare to look at Reiner. There would be no way that Reiner didn't know by now. Why Eren was so weird in front of him, why the brunette stuttered when he talked to him, why the smaller boy shifted his weight on his feet way too often in his presence. It was impossible to not notice. The others had probably noticed, too. Maybe they were even joking about it right now, in the dorms. Maybe they had known it all along.

The more he thought about it, the scarier it got, and he clenched his hands into fists, holding his breath. The whole situation (and the increasing lack of oxygen) made his head spin, and he tried to pull ideas of what to do out of his head. It was hard, he was still in a state of daze and panic and fluster and other intense feelings, and they threw around his thoughts and made a mess of his head.

One particular crazy thought strained him in a flash, and almost scared him shitless.

'What about confessing?'

It could have made him scream, but instead, he gasped in sharply, though the thought still scared him, and he instinctively rolled around, without realizing before it was to late, that he had forgotten that Reiner was right beside him.

It was weird, how he found himself staring at that chest again. It had seemed like he had miscalculated where Reiner's face must have been, too. As Eren looked up, he locked eyes with the bigger boy once again. Reiner looked a bit taken back, his lips slightly parted and his eyes mildly widened. He was leaning halfway over Eren, and he was so close to the other, that the dark brown locks of hair tickled his nose. He blinked with his golden eyes to regain sanity, while Eren just lied there, staring vacantly with his big, green eyes, looking almost enchanted.

Before any of them could get their brains to work properly again, steps from the yard reached into the stable, awakening a state of panic in the both of them. And the deep voice purring from the same direction didn't help much either, as the teenagers recognized it as a voice of someone superior to them.

"Cadet Eren, I hope your job is done, you little brat."

* * *

**And that's that. Wait up for the next chapter that I have no idea what's going to contain.**

**I'm such a scum.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, folks! I understand that some of you actually have been waiting for this..!? (That's how I understood it all)**

**I'm really sorry, but I'm pretty much inactive everywhere on the internet, I'm having a terrible art block, it's torture... ,=7=,**

**But here you go. I didn't go through to check for flaws, so it might be like a half-cooked thing. I hope it's enough to satisfy you all for now... (Even though nothing at all happens in this chapter, ooops)**

**I have way too much stuff I should be doing, so don't expect this to be updated too soon... *cries***

* * *

"C-c-c-captain Levi!"

Eren immediately got up and made a salute, closely followed by Reiner. A smaller man entered the stable door, with a mildly irritated face. When he saw Reiner standing beside Eren, he raised an eyebrow.

"Cadet Braun? What are you doing in the stables?" The question was to be expected, but Eren's face already had begun betraying him, as he felt the heat rising to his ears, and his mouth gaped open, but nothing came out.

"I-I was helping Jäger out with the stable chores, sir!" Reiner quickly said.

"Helping, huh?" Levi's already annoyed face became even more annoyed, as he shifted his sight from Reiner to Eren and back.

"You are both well aware that you shouldn't run around and 'help' with the punishment unless you are ordered to do just that, aren't you?" Reiner stuttered a yes, getting more and more nervous by every second that passed while he was being showered with evil eyes from the captain.

"Right... I guess that since you brats are so happy about helping each other out, you, Cadet Braun, are going to share the stable chores with Eren for the next three days."

"Y-yes, sir!"

* * *

Shortly after examining the stable boxes, the corporal left (see what I did there? "Shortly"? Haw haw, okay back to the story) with a threatening snarl and disappeared into the dark yard, heading towards the offices. As soon as the two teenagers were alone, Eren opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a weird whimper.

"Speak human language, Eren, I can't understand you." Reiner said. Eren blushed with an annoyed look on his face.

"I w-was going to s-say sorry! And I-I was also going to say th-thanks, uhh... for helping...!" Eren yelped.

Reiner sighed, and slapped Eren's back in a relaxed manner.

"What the hell, Eren, stuff like this happens everyday, we're soldiers! It's not like we aren't used to being ordered around." He laughed. He had hoped that it would have calmed Eren down, but the boy just looked even more distressed, and his big eyes looked the other way.

A quick silence hung in the air, before Reiner put his hand on Eren's shoulder.

"Hey, let's go back to the dorms now. I bet you're tired, after all the work, and... uh... stuff." The blond mumbled the last bit, unsure how Eren was feeling about that.

"Hrm." Eren hummed. He really wasn't feeling okay; all the embarrassing incidents that had happened today was taking its toll on his already low level of sanity that was left. He actually felt exhausted rather than just tired.

"Eren?"

The brunet snapped out of his thoughts, and looked over at the door where Reiner was already standing, waiting for Eren to move. Eren hesitated for a few moments, but followed the taller boy, though without looking at his direction a single second. He was afraid what was going to happen if he did.

* * *

"Oi, Jäger, Braun! Where the fuck have you two been?"

Of course, Jean Dickstein was right on the job of being the stupid horseface he was the very second Eren showed his face in the boy's dorms.

"Sew your fucking hole, pony." Eren growled, wandering over to the bunker he shared with Armin.

"Oh, yeah, you were in the stables again, weren't you, Jägerboy? Did you make any friends?" Jean thought he was sooooo funny. Really funny.

"No, I didn't make any friends, because everyone reminded me of you!" Connie began laughing in unison with Jean, as Eren climbed the ladder on the bed and dumped himself face first in the end farthest away from Kirschtein.

"Hi, Eren. You okay?" The boy tiredly turned his head towards the owner of the voice.

"Nnnnooooo..." He snarled, his eyebrows furrowing. Armin crawled closer to his friend.

"Hey, you'll be fine, the last chore is tomorrow, right?" Eren made a weird sound, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near an enthusiastic or motivated sound. Armin knew that sound; Eren made that sound when something was making his life hard. Other than titans.

"What is it that went wrong this time?" The blond sighed, gently poking Eren's cheek.

"Levi gave me another three days, Armin. He fucking said that I was gonna clean the stables, with..." Eren swallowed hard before he continued.

"With Reiner." He was happy that he was lying on his stomach. His loins gave a tug, but luckily, nothing more than that. Armin groaned silently.

"Well at least you have someone to help you now. Isn't that fine?" The strange look Eren suddenly sent him had him worried almost immediately. He was just about to ask what the problem was, but Eren sat up and stared at Armin.

"I'll tell you what the problem is." Eren whispered. Before Armin could answer, Eren had crawled over to the edge of the bed and looked out over the room, and crawled back again.

"But first when the others are asleep." Armin hesitated a second or two, but nodded.

"What are you two girls talking about?" Eren's eyebrows curled the moment Jean's taunting voice sounded from one of the other beds.

"The quality of horse meat, and how it'd be a perfect and nice substitute to ox meat!" Eren barked, before he laid himself down with a carpet over his head.

* * *

Armin carefully peeped down on the other soldiers. Systemically, he checked in the dark how every single person breathed and listened carefully to catch up whispering and movements. It only took him two minutes, because he concluded that he could hear everyone's snore; apart from Eren's. With that conclusion, he rolled back beside Eren, giving a thumbs up to signal that he could speak freely.

"Now, what's the problem?" He immediately asked.

"Okay, this is going to be fucking embarrassing, Armin..." Eren pinched the bridge of his nose, blushing harshly in the dark, and his heart was already skipping with nervousness. He knew he'd regret this later, but right now he felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't tell at least one person about all the things that had been torturing him constantly for weeks now.

"I dunno if you've noticed, but Mikasa kind of did. Today, at least." He said, and looked at Armin. Armin nodded.

"You've been pretty strange from time to time. Today you peaked it. What was that whole leaving-your-food-behind-for-Sasha-to-eat-maneuver for?" Eren glanced away.

"Yeah, um... that's a long explanation, actually. Or, not really. It's complicated, no, wait, uh..." Eren couldn't get himself to explain it bluntly, like he otherwise normally did. He knew that he could trust Armin with his deepest and most embarrassing secrets, and he knew that no matter how much anyone tortured Armin, he'd never say it. And yet, he had such trouble just telling him right there and right now, when he had the chance.

"Eren, take a deep breath, wait for a few secs and then tell me when you've calmed down." Armin patted Eren's forehead.

"Oh god, to hell with this, I'll just tell y-!"

"Ssh!" Armin violently hushed Eren. If Eren had just raised his voice a tiny bit more in volume, would have awakened the other sleeping people in the room.

"Jesus Christ, Eren. Weren't the secret supposed to be embarrassing?"

"It is, it's just..." Eren sighed.

"... It's new to you...?" Eren sighed a weak yes, confirming the question right away.

"Just tell me some other time, if you can't figure out how to now. There's no rush." Armin began to lay himself in a better position, before Eren sat up, grabbing his shoulders to stop him.

"No, you don't understand, it's really urgent, I don't know what to do and it's making me crazier than I normally am, Armin!"

"Sssh, Eren, I can hear you perfectly fine even when you whisper." Eren rolled his eyes, as Armin sat up.

"Okay then, tell me what it is." With some short moments of hesitation, Eren inhaled and began to whisper lowly.

"The whole reason I have been behaving like a fucking idiot recently, is because I have a crush on... on..." Eren tried to say the name, but he couldn't get it out. His throat was in a knot, his tongue felt like rubber, and his mouth was dry. Dammit! Why did he chicken out now!?

"Reiner."

Eren jumped the moment Armin suddenly finished the sentence.

"I thought so." Armin said, smiling gently.

Eren couldn't do anything else than staring at Armin while his mouth hung open.

"How did I know? Well, I kind of discreetly noticed how you were only a little bit weird when Reiner wasn't around, and how you actually spoke, until Reiner arrived. Then you behaved even weirder and you didn't say many words, and those you spoke were strangely pronounced. I convinced myself that it was my imagination, but it seems that my intuitions were right."

Judging from the look on Eren's face, Armin could feel that his best friend had forgotten how openly he read him. The two of them had been friends for years, even before Mikasa had been there. And also she could read Eren like an open book.

"Hey now, I haven't told this to anyone else, not even your sister, Eren. After all, it was just an intu-"

"Do you think anyone of the others have noticed?" Eren's face was soaked in fear. Armin raised a brow, while he gave it a thought.

"Besides from Mikasa, I doubt it... but I must add that Jean might have picked something up. You two are always after each other, so it would only be natural if he noticed something, too."

That comment didn't calm Eren down at all. Of all people that could have noticed...

"Eren, calm yourself. Jean is honest, but I don't think he is the type to gossip. Unless he is really angry." Armin added quietly.

Eren closed his eyes. Then he should not piss Jean off. He never thought he would ever have such a thought in his head. Ever. This situation was really extraordinary.

He was just about suggesting to go to sleep again, when he remembered why he was talking about this in the first place.

"A-Armin?"

"Yeah?"

"You know, uhh... that's not all... that thing with me having a crush, I mean..." Eren whispered, almost so low that Armin for once couldn't hear it.

"Oh? What now?" Armin sat himself closer, to pick up what Eren said.

A quick silence, with the only sounds coming from their fellow soldiers, hung in the room, as Eren gathered courage.

"Right... um... today, something in the stables happened." Eren started. He could already see Armin's curiosity rising, as his friend nodded as a signal that he should continue.

"Apparently, because I have been doing stable chores for almost everyday in several weeks now, Reiner came to help me, without any order to do so, though. S-so he came willingly, and by his own."

Armin nodded again, looking more eager by every moment of silence that passed.

"I told him not to at first, but he, um... insisted, and we did the chores."

"Yes, and?"

"So, I got some horse poop on my hands and clothes, and it was not that kind of normal, dry horse poop, it was that smelly, sticky, yucky stuff. And I tried to get it off with hay, but it only made it worse, and then... then..." Eren's voice cracked, cutting himself off from saying anymore.

"... And then...?"

Eren gulped. He was going to try let it all out in one go.

"Well, Reiner decided to help me out again and he... took a wet cloth and reached around me from behind to clean my hands. You know he likes to fuck around a lot, but because I'm such a retard, my mind didn't think of anything else than... eh... sexual things...? And I tripped and he tripped and we landed in hay, and he was on top of me and I lost my rationality and I kissed him... and it was awkward, and... and... then Levi came and we saluted and he told us to clean the stables the next three days."

When Eren was finally finished, he laid down and hid himself in the blanket. He didn't even dare looking at Armin of pure embarrassment.

Armin was still processing what Eren had just told him. They had kissed? Reiner and Eren? On a bunch of hay, even?

"E-Eren... what happened right after..?"

"He said it was fine and it was just a kiss and that nothing happened, but if that had been true I wouldn't have gotten a boner right then..." Eren's whisper was muffled by the fabric and strained by the extreme embarrassment.

Armin blinked, trying to get what Eren was saying.

"Boner...?"

"Yes, okay. I'm sexually attracted to Reiner, it's not just a schoolgirl crush, it's fucking hormones and sexual frustration. And I'm weird, and I'm gay, and it's Reiner that I'm gay for. I'm fucked up, and I'm fucked. Really fucked. There is going to be sexual, awkward tension, and he is going to find out if he hasn't already."

Eren buried his face into the mattress with a pillow over his head. Armin was silent, too silent, and Eren was 100% sure that his best friend was currently judging him. Of course he was, because Eren would have done the same. Who wouldn't judge someone for having such an embarrassing crush.

Eren jumped a little when Armin's hand placed itself on his shoulder through the blanket.

"Would it help to not be alone with him? I can try asking the Captain if I can get the stable chores too."

Eren peeped out from the depths of the fabric.

"I don't know if that would help, Armin." He answered.

"Well, it's just if you really need it."

With that, Armin laid down too, positioning himself to lie comfortably.

"Just give it some thought before you go to the stables tomorrow. Sleep for now."

Eren nodded, freeing his head from the pillow. It was silent for ten minutes, and Eren could already hear Armin's slow and soft snore. He wished that he himself could sleep, but thoughts tumbled around in his head, and he couldn't lie still for more than twenty seconds. He was so nervous for future events, and despite being tired and exhausted, his groin was warmer than normal, and he felt semi-hard, which was a problem. He was lying right beside his best friend, and he had a sexually frustrated boner. His day just kept getting better and better, huh?

Ignoring the incoming throbs, he lied belly down to prevent it from growing, which worked, somewhat. If he had these kind of problems now, when he couldn't even see Reiner, and he was sleeping right besides Armin, he really didn't want to know how the next three days were to go.

* * *

"Eren?" A soft whisper emerged from the stable door.

"Armin? Is that you?" Eren turned around while asking, but instead of his blond friend, he saw a black-haired girl.

"Eren, is Reiner here yet?"

"No, but why are you here." Eren didn't really say it as a question, he groaned it out with an irritated tint to it.

"I asked Armin where you were. And he told me, too. Um, the thing with Reiner." Eren widened his eyes in horror.

"What...?!" He barked.

"He told me before I left. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone. Not like I ever would."

"Oh my god..." Eren placed his shovel up against a wall and sat down on a bucket that was turned upside down. Mikasa carefully moved inside, looking at her brother with a worried face.

"It's okay, Eren. It's only natural." She said quietly. Eren groaned.

"Even if it was, Mikasa, it's still embarrassing. I don't know if anyone else than you two knows it, and I suspect Reiner knows, too."

Mikasa stood beside Eren, and she rubbed his back soothingly.

"Eren, I've known you for a long time, and I think I have the right to say that you really aren't yourself."

"No shit."

"No, I didn't mean it like that. Usually you are very brave. Or, reckless. That's one of your main traits. You barge through everything, without giving it a second thought."

Eren looked up from the floor and up at Mikasa's stoic face.

"It's not that I think that trait is always good, but it's how you are, and I really wouldn't want you in any other way. Less reckless, maybe. But that's a different thing."

Before Eren could answer back, Mikasa kneeled down to get on eye height with him.

"In the few latest days, you have been behaving weird and differently. Especially with Reiner around. And I can see that it's bothering you a lot. I think you should take it easy and calm down. I know that you always have really intense feelings, but don't let it get to you. It's going to be fine, as long as you keep calm, all right?" Mikasa's life-coaching made Eren slightly flustered, but it wasn't that she hadn't done stuff like that before. His sister was always really deep, deeper than he would ever be. Sometimes she confused him, but she somehow managed to get him less stressed.

"Right. But you should get out of here. If the corporal finds you here, he'll put you on chore too."

"...Really?" The light in Mikasa's eye that flashed look suspiciously much like hope, and Eren groaned.

"No, Mikasa. No. Don't even." The light disappeared quickly, but she smiled slightly, patting her brothers shoulder before she stood up.

"I will see you at training, right?"

"If I'm quick, I might make it to breakfast." Mikasa nodded, and turned to go outside, only to almost bump into a wall of muscles. She glanced up, locking eyes with a certain blond.

"Oh. Good morning, Reiner."

"Morning, Mikasa. Morning, Eren. What have you two been doing?"

Eren quickly stood up and grabbed his shovel to disappear into the nearest box.

"I just discussed an important matter with Eren. Later." Mikasa was gone like the wind, long before Reiner could say a word. He shrugged and picked up the nearest shovel to join Eren in the chores.

"You are out early today, huh?" He said, grinning at Eren. The other boy didn't answer with anything else than a nod. Reiner mentally shrugged. It didn't surprise him that Eren was behaving like that. After what had happened yesterday, Eren was without doubt feeling awkward.

Though, Reiner couldn't think of any other methods than just indirectly assuring the other teenager that it was all fine by acting like nothing ever happened. Hopefully, Eren would forget about it too.

* * *

"I can explain, Eren."

"You better get to it, it was fucking awkward and the silence was unbearable!"

Eren placed a hard finger in the middle of Armin's forehead.

"I went to ask the captain if I could have helped you out with the chores, but he didn't allow me, because I had to do the dishes with Connie and Ymir." Armin said. He held up a palm to stop Eren from saying anything.

"But he said that I could go help you two in the evening, so don't freak. I'll follow you there after dinner."

Eren let his hands fall, as he exhaled in relief. No more awkward silence. If Armin was there, nothing could possibly happen.

"It's only three more days, Eren. You'll be fine."

"Thank you for reminding me, Armin. 'S really great to know that this might be the only time you'll be able to help me with the stable chores. Really nice." The pure essence of sarcasm that started dripping from Eren's words made Armin scratch his own neck.

"Maybe Mikasa could...?"

"Stop right there. It would never end well."

"Ah... you're right..." Mikasa would probably be all over-protective of him, making it even more obvious what would be going on inside Eren's head...

"Then Jean, maybe?"

"Ugh. No. Why?"

"Jean always makes you look like your normal self; angry and annoyed. No matter the situation, you two always are on each other's neck."

"Well, maybe that's true, but he would never ever agree on helping me out in the stables."

"Oh... yeah..." Their conversation was abruptly cut off, when a certain Captain Levi turned around from a corner.

"Eren. Come with me. Now." Both Armin and Eren made a surprised salute, startled by Levi's sudden appearance. That man was probably walking on tip toes.

"U-umh, ye-yes, Sir!"

* * *

**Oh my god, cliffhanger, what will happen in the next chapter I really don't know, I can't remember why I wrote this lmao I'm so fucked**


End file.
